News
Preview: Air NZ Cup, Part One
August 13 2008
It's Round Three of the Air New Zealand Cup and the upsets continue to roll in as Waikato managed to complete the double last week - losing to both teams that have been cut from the proposed twelve teams for the 2009 competition.
Oh how the mighty have fallen! After two weeks the Mooloo men are languishing in bottom place on the 14-team points table with just one bonus point to their name. Can the Turbos make it three losses in a row for Waikato on Thursday?
We've seen in the last two rounds that anything is possible!
On Friday, Counties Manukau will make a trip to the capital to take on.a patched up Wellington outfit who are battling a mounting injury toll. The Steelers are still smarting after a heavy loss to Bay of Plenty and they have not won in Wellington since 1997.
Otago will front up against Northland in Dunedin and should expect a tough 80 minutes from a team with a point to prove after being dropped from next year's tournament.
Manawatu v Waikato
Time is at least one thing in Waikato rugby coach Tony Hanks' favour as he bids to turn around a floundering Air New Zealand Cup campaign.
The 2006 champions have quickly sunk to the foot of the standings after successive losses to Northland and Tasman.
Those surprise reversals have immediately increased the pressure on Hanks, who has been denied the chance to ease his way into the role in his first term in charge.
Despite not playing particularly well, Waikato were holding a one-point lead until the last two minutes, when Tasman took a tighthead, ran a 21-phase drive and capped it off with a 40 metre Miah Nikora drop goal for the win.
Neither Northland nor Tasman - two teams the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) intends culling from a revamped competition for 2009 - should have posed serious questions of Waikato.
That both not only did that but also won the argument leaves Hanks seeking solutions, starting with their Round Three match against Manawatu in Palmerston North on Thursday.
There will have been sighs of relief in Manawatu rugby circles with the news this week they have avoided the Air New Zealand Cup cull, but these will have been tempered with frowns after the side lost at home to Southland in Round Two.
After securing a shock win over Canterbury in the first round, Manawatu could not foot it with the Stags last weekend.
Ordinarily, they would not cause Waikato too much concern, but Hanks acknowledges his team are in no position to be complacent.
"No one can be complacent in this competition at any time. I think this year's Air New Zealand Cup will be the closest we have seen," Hanks told NZPA.
"It's going to be pretty close. Who would have ever thought there would only two unbeaten teams (Wellington and Bay of Plenty) after two rounds?
"Maybe us beating Manawatu will be the upset this week in some people's minds."
Hanks has made only two personnel changes from the 14-16 loss to Tasman, believing in most cases that the incumbents deserve the chance to amend for their shortcomings.
He has introduced 20-year-old wing Henry Speight, who will debut for the province, and promoted prop Hikairo Forbes ahead of Craig West.
Speight's selection means a reshuffling of the Waikato backline, with Sosene Anesi moving to full-back for Dwayne Sweeney, who shifts to centre for Jackson Willison. Willison moves in one spot in place of Roimata Hansell-Puna, who is demoted to the bench.
Manawatu coach Dave Rennie made three changes, promoting lock Paul Rodgers and hooker Sean O'Connor from the reserves bench in place of James Goode and Rob Foreman.
Rennie was forced to making a change in midfield following Frankie Bryant's one-week suspension for a dangerous tackle in last week's loss against Southland .
Bryant was cited by citing commissioner David Gray for the tackle on Southland's Jason Kawau in the second minute of the match at Invercargill last Friday and appeared at a New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) judicial hearing on Wednesday.
Video footage at the hearing showed Bryant tackling Kawau with the first point of contact being Bryant's left arm around Kawau's neck and jaw area.
Kawau received medical treatment and had to leave the field for the remainder of the match. Bryant denied that the tackle was dangerous because the tackle had not occurred above the shoulder line of Kawau.
He told NZRU judicial officer Peter Hobbs he had aimed for Kawau's chest, but accepted that at some point he had made contact with Kawau's head.
Hobbs said the tackle, while not malicious or deliberate, was dangerous and, therefore, the citing was upheld.
Prediction: We never thought we would be scratching our heads over this one. Surely Waikato can't lose three on the trot - they can't, can they? Based on the Turbos' lacklustre effort last week against the Stags (Waikato weren't much better either), we going for the visitors to finally get themselves off the mark. Waikato to win by seven points.
Manawatu: 15 Francisco Bosch, 14 Aaron James, 13 Johnny Leota, 12 Francis Bryant, 11 Andre Taylor, 10 Matty James, 9 Aaron Good, 8 Nick Crosswell, 7 Doug Tietjens, 6 Hamish Gosling, 5 Paul Rodgers, 4 Hayden Triggs (c), 3 Talau Hala, 2 Sean O'Connor, 1 Grant Polson.
Replacements: 16 Rob Foreman, 17 David Te Moana, 18 Ross Adaam, 19 James Goode, 20 Aaron Smith, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Lote Raikabula.
Waikato: 15 Sosene Anesi, 14 Tim Mikkelson, 13 Dwayne Sweeney, 12 Jackson Willison, 11 Henry Speight, 10 Callum Bruce, 9 David Bason, 8 Liam Messam (c), 7 Tom Harding, 6 Faifili Levave, 5 Kevin O'Neill, 4 Toby Lynn, 3 Aled de Malmanche, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Hikairo Forbes.
Replacements: 16 Craig West, 17 Josh Hohneck, 18 Kent Fife, 19 Matt Blain, 20 Josh Sutherland, 21 Trent Renata, 22 Roimata Hansell-Pune.
Date: Thursday, August 14
Venue: FMG Stadium, Palmerston North
Kick-off: 19:05 (07:05 GMT)
Referee: Bryce Lawrence
TMO: Kelvin Deaker
Friday, August 15
Wellington v Counties Manukau
Wellington lead the competition with a maximum 10 points from their two victories, having come from behind for a late 30-27 victory over North Harbour at Albany last Thursday, but they have a mounting injury toll to worry about.
Not only does coach Jamie Joseph have to do without his regular captain Piri Weepu, who is on Tri-Nations duty with the All Blacks in South Africa, but his ranks are rapidly being thinned out due to attrition.
The latest to fall by the wayside is young pivot Daniel Kirkpatrick, who faces four to six weeks on the sidelines after dislocating his left shoulder in the Harbour win.
In all, Joseph has made seven changes to his starting XV.
Among the changes are the naming of wing Joe Hill for Tu Umaga-Marshall, centre Tane Tu'ipulotu for Tamati Ellison, blindside flanker Victor Vito for Chris Masoe, prop Tim Fairbrother for John Schwalger, and Ged Robinson for injured hooker Dane Coles.
Lock Jeremy Thrush runs out as the team's third skipper of the season in Weepu's absence.
Injuries aside, Wellington are the only team to have collected maximum points to date but not without some issues.
The positives are that Wellington have scored the most tries, dominated territory and possession, made most line-breaks, killed teams off in the second half and have a very good line-out.
The downside is that the Lions also lead the competition in handling errors, giveaways over takeaways and are right up there for penalties and free kicks conceded.
If they get it all right, watch out.
We've seen Counties Manukau at both ends of the spectrum so far: very good, committed and aggressive against Auckland and passive and directionless against Bay of Plenty.
The Steelers are also missing their captain as Dave Duley is out of this match but otherwise there have been few changes despite the poor effort last week.
Wellington and Counties (as they were then) were two of the early powers in NPC rugby but in recent seasons the balance has definitely tipped towards the Lions.
That said, any lapses in concentration could see table leaders Wellington in the same strife as Auckland were in Round One if Counties Manukau can bring their A game.
Prediction: The Steelers need their first round form for this one or they'll get belted. Wellington to win by fourteen points.
Wellington: 15 Cory Jane, 14 Joe Hill, 13 Tane Tu'ipulotu, 12 Michael Hobbs, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Fa'atonu Fili, 9 Alby Mathewson, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Serge Lilo, 6 Victor Vito, 5 Api Naikatini, 4 Jeremy Thrush (c), 3 Tim Fairbrother, 2 Ged Robinson, 1 Jacob Ellison.
Replacements: 16 Eugene Smith, 17 John Schwalger, 18 Chris Middleton/Scott Fuglistaller, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Tomasi Paku, 21 Tu Umaga-Marshall, 22 Buxton Popoali'i.
Counties Manukau: 15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Lelia Masaga, 13 Niva Ta'auso (c), 12 Romi Ropati, 11 Siale Piutau, 10 Dean Cummins, 9 Kevin Farrell, 8 Fritz Lee, 7 DJ Forbes, 6 Viliami Fihaki, 5 Andrew Van der Heijden, 4 Jamie Chipman, 3 Jayden Murch, 2 Lance Po-ching, 1 Simon Lemalu.
Replacements: 16 Cody Martin, 17 Rob Katu, 18 Rupeni Nasiga, 19 Gary Saifoloi, 20 Samisoni Fisilau, 21 Tanner Vili, 22 David Raikuna.
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19:35 (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Kelvin Deaker
Television match official: Brent Murray
Otago v Northland
The news that Northland are to get the chop from the 2009 Air New Zealand Cup should act as a spur to an already proud team this week, and it's quite likely Otago won't be thanking the movers at HQ after what promises to be an extremely physical battle.
Both these sides sit in the pack with one win and one loss, but both have competed strongly in each outing.
Otago grabbed an unlikely win at Invercargill when Southland basically gifted a last-minute penalty chance to the Dark Blues, which Chris Noakes took, but they couldn't get the final try against Canterbury to snatch a draw.
Northland were the first team to overturn a Super 14 base this season with a meritorious win over Waikato in Round One but they came up short against Hawke's Bay despite scoring five tries last week.
Prediction: Otago will have their work cut out for them against a proud Northland outfit, however the Deep South has been proven to be an unhappy hunting ground for the Taniwah. Otago to sneak home by three points.
The teams:
Otago: 15 Glen Horton, 14 Lucky Mulipola, 13 Brett Mather, 12 Aaron Bancroft, 11 Karne Hesketh, 10 Daniel Bowden, 9 Toby Morland, 8 Steven Setephano, 7 Craig Newby (captain), 6 Seko Qaraniqio, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Ross Kennedy, 3 Ben Nolan, 2 Jason MacDonald, 1 Keith Cameron.
Replacements: 16 Peter Mirrielees, 17 Sam Hibbard/Jed Vercoe, 18 Paul Grant, 19 Eben Joubert, 20 Sean Romans, 21 Chris Noakes, 22 Ben Smith.
Northland: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Rene Ranger, 13 Aiden Dewes, 12 Leo Taliu, 11 Fetu Vainikolo, 10 David Holwell/Deek Carpenterr, 9 James Rodley, 8 John Cocker, 7 Joel McKenty, 6 Justin Collins (captain), 5 Marty Veale, 4 Daniel Goodwin, 3 Bronson Murray, 2 Francis Smith, 1 Tony Coughlan.
Replacements: 16 Tyler Ashworth, 17 Justin Davies, 18 Roy Griffin, 19 Blair Urlich, 20 Kaino Kaino, 21 Derek Carpenter/Mike Davis, 22 Damien Fakafanua.
Venue: Carisbrook, Dunedin
Kick-off: 19:35 (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Lyndon Bray
TMO: Shane McDermott